1. Field of the Invention
Exemplary aspects of the present invention generally relate to an image forming apparatus such as a copier, a printer, a plotter, a facsimile machine, and a multifunction device having two or more of copying, printing, plotting, and facsimile capabilities.
2. Description of the Related Art
Related-art image forming apparatuses, such as copiers, printers, facsimile machines, and multifunction devices having two or more of copying, printing, and facsimile capabilities, typically form a toner image on a recording medium (e.g., a sheet of paper, etc.) according to image data using an electrophotographic method. In such a method, for example, a charger charges a surface of an image carrier (e.g., a photoconductor); an irradiating device emits a light beam onto the charged surface of the photoconductor to form an electrostatic latent image on the photoconductor according to the image data; a developing device develops the electrostatic latent image with a developer (e.g., toner) to form a toner image on the photoconductor; a transfer device transfers the toner image formed on the photoconductor onto a sheet of recording media; and a fixing device applies heat and pressure to the sheet bearing the toner image to fix the toner image onto the sheet. The sheet bearing the fixed toner image is then discharged from the image forming apparatus.
Many components of the image forming apparatus such as the charger and the fixing device that perform image formation generate heat, and the heat thus generated increases the temperature within the image forming apparatus. If hot enough, for example, toner particles stored in the developing device can be melted together and coagulate, resulting in irregular images.
Accordingly, image forming apparatuses are typically provided with a cooling system that cools the interior of the apparatus. There is known, for example, a cooling system in which outside air is drawn into the image forming apparatus from the front of the apparatus using multiple fans to cool image forming units disposed in the image forming apparatus, after which the air is discharged from the rear of the apparatus. In another approach, a space through which air flows is foamed within the image forming apparatus between a developing device and an irradiating device having a heat source to cool an image forming unit disposed in the apparatus with air drawn into the space from the outside.
The image forming unit includes devices such as the developing device and the cleaning device that handle toner, and therefore, toner scattering is inevitable around those devices. In particular, toner having a smaller particle diameter that is now used in image forming apparatuses to meet increasing demand for higher-quality images tends to scatter more easily.
The related-art cooling systems described above focus only on cooling of the image forming units and do not consider relative positions of flows of cool air and scattered toner, thereby exacerbating toner scattering. Consequently, the scattered toner is attached to members that are handled during replacement or maintenance and soils users' hands.